HS2 - Government proposals, alternative routes and general discussion

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

The importance of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) to Birmingham, or at least its City Council, is clear. The council planning is to meet next week in response to the final go-ahead to consider / rubber stamp the proposals for the 7-platform HS2 station at Curzon Street. There is a video showing what it look a bit like in this Birmingham Mail report as well as a bit more detail.

[johnneyw]

Purists be forewarned, the Birmingham Mail article refers to it as a train station.

[TonyK]

Purists be forewarned, the Birmingham Mail article refers to it as a train station.

Thankfully, planning officer Nicholas Jackson knows his stuff, and says:

The elegant and (deceptively) simple form of the main station building clearly reads as a railway station and harks back to traditional station architecture, delivering this in a confident and contemporary way

Looking more closely at the HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) interactive map than I have before, I notice that it joins the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) in two places, enabling through trains to Glasgow, and joins the ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) for Edinburgh. I haven't found plans for services yet.

[Clan Line]

Matt in today's Telegraph

[Red Squirrel]

Purists be forewarned, the Birmingham Mail article refers to it as a train station.

Thankfully, planning officer Nicholas Jackson knows his stuff, and says:

The elegant and (deceptively) simple form of the main station building clearly reads as a railway station and harks back to traditional station architecture, delivering this in a confident and contemporary way

[...]

Phew: so we will all know where to go if we want to catch a railway. Presumably we will still go to the train station when we want to catch a train though?

[SandTEngineer]

Interesting proposal to name the TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines) to be utilised on the project: https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2020/05/15/hs2-opens-public-vote-to-name-two-giant-tbms/

Vote for your favourite name

Earlier this year, our contractor Align (a joint venture of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick) engaged with local schools in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Hillingdon and asked students to put forward names of women who have made their mark on history through their achievements. Tradition dictates that in order to keep the tunnellers safe underground, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are given a female name before they are launched. The women below were shortlisted and we now want you to vote for your favourite name for our machines.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Florence Nightingale
Marie Curie

You can vote here: https://www.hs2.org.uk/tbmvoting/

[paul7575]

Interesting proposal to name the TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machines) to be utilised on the project: https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2020/05/15/hs2-opens-public-vote-to-name-two-giant-tbms/

Vote for your favourite name

Earlier this year, our contractor Align (a joint venture of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick) engaged with local schools in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Hillingdon and asked students to put forward names of women who have made their mark on history through their achievements. Tradition dictates that in order to keep the tunnellers safe underground, tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are given a female name before they are launched. The women below were shortlisted and we now want you to vote for your favourite name for our machines.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Florence Nightingale
Marie Curie

You can vote here: https://www.hs2.org.uk/tbmvoting/

Too late to suggest Chris(tine) Packham then? 

Paul

[CyclingSid]

Nother rap over the knucles?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52695156

The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) said the project has been "comprehensively reset".

Again?

[TaplowGreen]

Nother rap over the knucles?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52695156

The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) said the project has been "comprehensively reset".

Again?

Leaders of the HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) rail project have been "blindsided by contact with reality" - a fitting epitaph for this colossal money pit.

[IndustryInsider]

I must admit, I’d never heard of Cecilia.

[TaplowGreen]

I must admit, I’d never heard of Cecilia.

I suspect few had to be fair......not the sort of name one forgets once heard though!!!

[rogerw]

I must admit, I’d never heard of Cecilia.

Wasn't it a song by Simon & Garfunkel 

[Bmblbzzz]

Roman goddess of music (hence the song, I presume).

[Western Pathfinder]

In case you needed a reminder https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e5uei2AFEaQ.

[TonyK]

I must admit, I’d never heard of Cecilia.

Me neither, but respect to the lady. I wondered why the company would want to name a TBM after one of a shortlist containing an astronomer, a nurse, and a physicist. Probably because they were all pioneers in their fields?

I must admit, I’d never heard of Cecilia.

Wasn't it a song by Simon & Garfunkel 

Indeed so, about a lady of little patience in the boudoir. I'm glad I have an en suite. No point in taking chances.